Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

7/10
This is a good example of a solid cinematic video game, recommended for those who place more value on a compelling, well-told story than on gameplay. The game follows the US 101st Airborne Division through Operation Market Garden, the largest paratrooper operation - and the last German victory - in the War. You'll lead a squad through occupied Holland in an attempt to secure a series of vital roads and bridges that came to be known as "Hell's Highway" as a result of the relatively flat, indefensible terrain and the ferocity of German offensive operations.

The gameplay is primarily squad-based, much like the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series, which is not my cup of tea. I would prefer to just focus on controlling one soldier well, as in the Call of Duty series, rather than divide my attention between squads. When given orders, the squads in Brothers in Arms tend to not behave as intelligently as in similar games, resulting (perhaps with un-intended realism) in many frustrating and un-nessessary friendly casualties.

That said, the story is top-notch. The narrative unfolds through lovingly-crafted in-game cinematics which explore the close relationship between members of a single squad as the campaign progresses. I found myself growing attached to my squad members and surprised and saddened by losses from their ranks. Once again the message was pounded home: while these men may have enlisted for lofty concepts such as Freedom or Revenge what ultimately kept most of them going was each other. Each man fought so that a comrade would not have to face the enemy alone, a rationale both admirable and tragic.